Jeff Johnson of the school building committee
appeared at the November 25 board of health meeting to request that
the board extend the Carlisle School septic system permit to November
30, 1998. The school has been unable to begin building the replacement
septic system because of legal actions brought by Timothy and Phyllis
Landers of Bedford Road, who object to the proposed Banta-Davis Land
site.

Board of health agent Linda Fantasia pointed out
that if the permit for the existing system were to lapse, "it would
very much complicate things." The current leaching field, located under
the Spalding recreational fields, was found to be in technical failure
in March 1996. When asked about the precedent for granting such an extension,
board member Skip Saunders responded that the "continuing visible effort
to get [legal] clearance" has been shown by school officials. Saunders
said that the board would be willing to grant an extension to a homeowner
if they had a similar legal situation.

A superior court hearing on the Landerses' legal
suit is scheduled for December 4.

Woodland Road

In a continued public hearing Tom Guiler
of 78 Woodland Road conveyed his concern that Carlisle has become a
"marked" town as he presented numerous arguments to support his request
for a variance which would reduce the cost of his septic system repair.

Guiler presented two plans to the board of health:
Plan B is sized 50 percent larger than Plan A to include the possibility
of a garbage grinder as required by town regulations. Guiler had four
bids from contractors for each plan which showed that the average difference
in cost was $12,000. He asked the board, "At what point do we exceed
a cost-benefit threshold?"

Saunders explained the board policy of not granting
waivers for a repair if a system can be built which will meet all of
the board's requirements. Guiler countered that Plan B would ruin the
lot because it required the removal of an additional 30 trees. That
is an argument for not building any houses, Saunders responded

In the end, the board approved Plan B. Guiler lamented
that when he bought the two-acre parcel 32 years ago for $7,000 it cost
him $45,000 to build his house and get into Carlisle and now it was
costing him $45,000 to repair his septic system and get out of Carlisle.